One More Round
by Serenitatis Cove
Summary: This is the beginning of a new series! It's Christmas again in Knothole and there will be new changes to adjust to. With a new villain and the return of the king, everyone will be busy! Satam 'fic R&R please!


It was Sam's favorite time of the year again; Christmas. She was especially excited because it was her first 'actual' Christmas with Snively and the girls. She knew exactly what to get everyone

except for one person. Snively never once gave her any ideas. Sam had dyed her hair to its original color to make him mad enough to get ideas. It didn't work as she had planned. She asked Hope to ask

him what he wanted one day. Unfortunately for Sam, he knew what Hope was doing and said nothing. Sam was wrapping presents in their bedroom when she heard the front door slam. She figured it was Snively because Hope and Chibi were at her parent's palace for the week.

"Sam, where are you at?" she heard Snively call.

"Our room!" she answered. She watched him come through the hall and into their room.

"Sam, exactly how many gifts did you buy?" he inquired.

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "Too many! I'm probably gonna need to go back to Earth to get more wrapping paper."

He smirked and sat down on the bed. "Sam, why don't you take a break for awhile. I need to get warmed up."

She arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Who's going to wrap Christmas presents then?" Sam asked.

He sat down by her, wrapping her in his arms. "We can later," he murmured.

She pulled away. "You know what? I know exactly how to get you to tell me what you want for Christmas," Sam said.

"Oh really?" Snively replied.

"Yeah. Until you give me ideas, I'm not going to kiss you."

He gave her a curious look. "You can't honestly say you mean that."

She resumed wrapping gifts, blowing off the comment. That's when Snively knew Sam was serious.

----

Sonic walked out of his hut, trying to figure out what to get Sally. He had considered going to Sam for help. He saw Snively walking out of his and Sam's hut, looking a little sulky. Sonic jogged up to him, noting that Snively looked somewhat confused.

"Hey, Snively, what's up?" he asked.

"Sam, again."

Sonic didn't really understand. He knew they had small arguments but other than that, everything seemed fine. He hadn't realized Snively was talking to him until he heard his name. "What?" he asked.

"Sam will not kiss me until I tell her what I want for Christmas. I don't want her to get me anything. I know she won't settle for that," Snively said.

Sonic shrugged. "Sometimes girls are just too much trouble," Sonic stated.

Snively nodded, "Agreed."

----

That night when Snively was going to bed, he realized Sam was not there. He thought it was terribly silent in their home. He waited for her until he got too tired. He eventually crashed in the living room on the couch. About five minutes later, he heard footsteps. He opened his eyes to see Sam carrying more shopping bags.

"Sam, where have you been? It's late," Snively said, sitting up.

She jumped at the sound of his voice. She obviously didn't see him. "Oh, just shopping. Why?" she replied.

"At 11:30 at night?" Snively inquired.

"Uh, yeah! Some stores stay open later during this time of year," Sam replied.

"You're up to something, aren't you?"

"No! No! What would make you think that? Silly boy," Sam said, putting her bags on the table. "So," she continued, "have any ideas for me? I have something for you to make up for last Christmas and your birthday you never mentioned."

He looked at her and sighed. "Sam, what I want for Christmas is too much to ask for. Just let me be, alright? Let's just...go to bed," he said, walking to their room.

Sam followed him. "What do you mean by 'too much to ask for?'" she inquired.

He turned away from her, trying to avoid the question. He felt her sit down on their bed beside him.

"Come on, if there's something wrong, you can tell me," Sam said, starting to massage his back.

"Sam, stop. I'm not...a little to the left," Snively said, forgetting about what he was saying.

"So," she asked, "what do you want?"

"Sam, do not tell anyone what I'm about to say."

She nodded, "I promise."

Snively turned to face her and took his wife in his arms. "I cannot stand my physical appearance," he whispered.

"What? Why?" she inquired, shocked.

"I feel puny. I want to be masculine. It sounds silly really, but

I ca-"

"Snively, chill. People are like that all the time. It's normal to be like that. All you need to do is work-out," Sam said.

"There's more," Snively said hastily.

"More? Um, how much more?" Sam asked warily.

"Not much. I used to have hair," he replied, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"You lost your hair. So what? It doesn't make me love you any less. And if you think you're too short, you're wrong. We're the exact same height, and that's five foot two. You have nothing to worry about, I promise," she said. She snuggled into him and felt him wince. "What else?" she asked, now annoyed.

"Nothing. My stomach's a little sore but that's it," he replied.

She sat up on his legs and started to unbutton his shirt, breaking their privacy rule with him protesting. Sam pushed away the shirt to see a nasty cut that was reopened. She looked at Snively with worried eyes. "Why didn't you say anything? I'm not sure if I can even fix this," she said.

"Sam, it's nothing," Snively said, turning away from her yet again.

She stopped him and forced him to look at her. "Snively, you've been keeping too many things away from me lately. Why? The way I understood things was that we were going to tell each other everything," Sam said. She started to heal his wound and after about five minutes, she did.

Her breathing was a little labored. "Man, I'm not in shape! I think Chibi took it with her being born," Sam said.

Snively pushed her off of him and rolled over. Sam was a little hurt by the action. She purposely changed clothes in front of him, trying to gain his attention. She looked over to him eagerly, then sighed miserably. He wasn't paying a speck of attention to her.

She looked out of the window and said quietly, "Your apathy hurts me so, love." She left the room just as quiet and went in Hope's room and slept on her bed. Snively sat up and was about to say something when he noticed that Sam's presence wasn't there. He lay back down, upset with her.

----

The next morning, Snively woke up with a shiver. He walked into the kitchen but stopped when he heard Sam's voice. He saw her sitting at the table, talking on the phone. He listened in, straining to hear.

"I dunno, Sof. It's so weird that he kept that from me...no, we had a fight last night," he heard Sam say. "I feel bad about it too. No, I slept in Hope's room...yeah. Yeah. Yeah...Hope did what?"

Snively leaned in closer. He had to know since Hope _was_ his sister after all.

"She kissed Paco!?" he heard Sam exclaim.

Snively leaned too far and fell.

"Hey, Sophia? Let me call you back. I think someone's trying to break in."

Snively ducked behind the couch. He watched Sam unlock the front door and look out. He tried to sneak to their bedroom as quietly as possible.

"Hold it, bub!" he heard Sam say. He turned around slowly and faced her. She had her weight shifted to her right foot, arms crossed, and wearing a displeased expression.

"I was just going back to bed," Snively said nervously.

"I don't think so," Sam said, frowning.

"Fine. I was actually cold, so I decided to get up. I heard you talking and listened in. And when you said what Hope did, I was shocked," Snively explained.

Sam nodded. "That sounds more reasonable...listen, we need to talk."

----

Sonic still didn't know what to get Sally. He knew what Antoine was getting Bunnie, but he knew that Sally didn't really care for jewelry. Snively told him yesterday what he had got for Sam and Sonic knew she'd be thrilled to death by it. He saw them walking together, arms linked, a sign that they were done fighting.

"Where are you guys going?" Sonic inquired, running up to them.

"We're going to Earth for awhile," Snively replied.

"Oh man!" Sam exclaimed, "I forgot my car keys in the hut." She ran back for them, leaving the other two.

"Why are you guys fighting so much?" Sonic asked.

"We don't see everything the same way. Have you figured out what to get Sally yet?" Snively replied.

"No," Sonic replied.

Snively looked around and pulled Sonic behind a tree. "I've an idea, but it's severely risky."

"What?" Sonic asked.

"What if you can save King Acorn from the Void?" Snively suggested.

"Snively, dude, you're a genius!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Yes, I know," he boasted.

"Sonic, don't tell him stuff he doesn't need to be reminded of," Sam said, walking up.

"Come off it, Sam. Let me have my fun," Snively said.

"It's a cool idea, I think. But, leave me outta this one," she said.

"Why?" Sonic inquired.

"I lost...I mean…I just don't want to go on this one," Sam replied.

"Sam, we need to get going," Snively said.

The wind blew a sharp breeze of cold air and Sam tugged on her maroon coat. She remembered that Snively had bought it for her recently. She wasn't used to colder weather because she lived in L.A. for most of her life, where the coldest it got was the lower fifties. She felt something tug at her arm and realized it was Snively.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Just cold is all," Sam said, noting that Sonic had disappeared. She felt something being wrapped around her. Sam looked at Snively, who was cloakless.

"The winter air and I are well-associated. You are not," he said. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they walked off and eventually walked off in a portal.

----

Later that evening, Snively and Sam came home, each carrying a child. Snively put Hope in her room while Sam took Chibi in their room and put her in her crib for bed. Snively came in and noticed Sam was already in bed. He sat down by her and kissed her repeatedly. He caressed her until he heard her moan something.

"Come again?" he asked.

"Get off me. I'm trying to sleep," Sam mumbled.

"I thought this was what you wanted."

"Yeah, but not at one in the stupid morning when I'm dead tired."

He went into the bathroom and changed, then lay down.

"Do you ever think about Mecha?" Sam abruptly queried.

"No, not really. Why?" Snively replied.

"Just wondered is all," Sam said. They turned off the light and went to sleep, or tried to.

----

The next morning, Sonic was in the Great Forest with Tails, training the two-tailed fox. They saw a spark come from behind a snow-covered bush. Curious, they walked carefully towards the bush. They jumped back in shock. For there, lame and in horrible condition, was Mecha-Sonic.

"S-sonic, whaddaya think happened?" Tails inquired, obviously scared.

Sonic shook his head, "I dunno. Maybe we should leave him here, y'know?"

"Yeah, but Sonic, we can't just leave him here. It's Christmas!" Tails pointed out.

Sonic thought about it. Mecha-Sonic did cause the Freedom Fighters a lot of strife. But, so did Snively and he was living in Knothole. Tails had a good point for only being ten.

"If we take Mecha to Knothole, he might sell us out to Robuttnik," Sonic said, "and besides, Sal'll kill us for bringing a killer robot to Knothole."

"Yeah, but Aunt Sally told me what Christmas is all about. She'll understand," Tails replied.

Sonic looked over to his robotic double then to Tails. Sonic walked over to Mecha and picked him up.

"Tails, go ahead of me and tell Rotor to get his workshop ready," Sonic ordered. Tails nodded and flew off. Sonic made sure he left nothing behind before running off to Knothole, unsure of what would and could happen.

----

Snively felt Sam bury her head into his chest. He smiled. He had coaxed her into what he wanted to do the previous night and enjoyed it a lot.

"YOU DID WHAT!?" a voice thundered.

Sam yelped and brought her knee up, causing her husband to yelp also.

"Sorry!" Sam said sheepishly.

"Oh, it's fine! Honest!" Snively replied in an octave higher than his usual tone.

Sam gave him a kiss, letting him know that she felt bad for him. They both quickly scrambled for clothing and ran outside to see what was going on. Sam noticed all of the looks of jealousy by the women and the stares from the men of Knothole. They saw Sonic looking absolutely terrified at Sally, who looked enraged.

"What's wrong?" Snively inquired.

"Sonic and Tails decided to bring an unwanted guest to Knothole," Sally said.

"B-but, Sal! We wouldn't be any better than him if we didn't help him!" Sonic protested.

Sally stood in silence, stunned as Sonic's words were truthful.

"Sam," Sally finally said, "that's not what you're going to wear today, is it?"

Sam shook her head, "No, why?"

"You have every man in Knothole staring at you," the Acorn princess replied.

Sam realized that her nightclothes were more revealing than anyone, aside from her husband, had seen. It was a light blue top, with no straps, her collar was extremely low, outlined with silver

lace. The top was partially see-through, as were part of the bottoms, which were too short for anyone in society to call them shorts or even 'short' shorts. The whole getup showed off every single flattering curve of Sam's. Snively put his cloak around her, giving the other men a dirty look. They stopped staring immediately.

"Thanks," she murmured.

"So," Snively said, changing the subject, "who's here? No one exactly told us."

"Snively! Boy, am I ever glad to see you!" Rotor called out.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"I need some help in my workshop."

"Let me get dressed and eat, then I'll be out," Snively answered.

As they walked back to their home, Sam launched a snowball at Snively's head and hit him perfectly.

"Where did that snowball come from?"

"The, uh, the sky!" Sam said quickly.

"Right," Snively answered sarcastically.

They walked into their hut and saw Hope sitting at the kitchen table, eating cereal. She looked up at them with a smug expression upon her face.

"Looks like you two were 'busy' last night," she said slyly.

Snively glared at his sister and was about to say something before Sam pulled him to their room.

"How could she have known?" Snively asked, getting dressed.

"I think it's the way I was dressed earlier," Sam said, coming in from the bathroom.

"Sam! I don't have my shirt on!" Snively screeched.

Sam rolled her eyes, showing she could care less if he had a shirt on or not. "Snively, chillax. It's not like haven't seen your chest before," Sam replied.

"Still," Snively replied stiffly. "Why haven't you been with your friends lately?" he continued, helping her make the bed, something he usually did.

"They're all busy now. Sophia is studying for the Moon Kingdom to be handed to her, Alex is going into college and after that she's going to join Alicia in Archeology, Erika has a recording contract on Mercury, and I don't know what everyone else is doing," Sam answered. She heard their daughter and picked her up. She couldn't figure out why Chibi's hair was a light brown color, almost a dark blonde color. She had her father's eyes, but her mother's nose, which Snively was thankful. Sam didn't know why and didn't really care to know either.

"Chibi's growing teeth for such an early age, isn't she?" Snively inquired, breaking Sam away from her thoughts.

"Oh? Oh, yeah. I got bite marks from when I was still nursing her."

"You stopped nursing her? When was this? And why wasn't I informed?" Snively queried, anxious to know.

"Hey, hey, hey! You got yours last night," Sam said, walking out of the room.

He felt his face flushen at her words. Sam was feeding their daughter some type of baby food when Snively went into the kitchen. He reached for a bottle of milk and poured some into a glass. He noticed Sam staring at him, then quickly turned his head. After taking a sip, he had a disgusted look on his face.

"What did I just drink?" he inquired.

"Um, breast milk," Sam replied.

"W-what?!!" Snively sputtered as he wiped at his mouth with the back of his wrist. Sam giggled at the sight. "It's not very funny," Snively

sniffed.

"Uh, yeah it is," Sam laughed.

"I've got to help Rotor in his workshop," he continued as he walked outside.

"Whatever," Sam answered. She picked up Chibi and placed her on the floor. She was starting to dial Melissa's phone number when she stopped, eyes resting on her baby. The child was sitting up and

looked at the couch in what appeared to be determination. She flopped down on her hands and knees, reaching one hand out and placing it on the floor in front of her. Oh my gosh, she's getting ready

to crawl! Sam thought excitedly.

----

When Snively saw who was offline in Rotor's workshop, he let his jaw drop. "How did he get in Knothole?" Snively hissed.

"Sonic and Tails brought him here earlier this morning," Rotor replied. "I figured since you built Mecha, you'd know what to do better than anyone else here," the walrus continued.

The overlander nodded. They opened Mecha up and a puff of smoke erupted.

"What has that fool done?! He could have destroyed Mecha-Sonic's circuits!" Snively muttered.

Within fifteen minutes, they had found what had caused Mecha-Sonic's circuits to fry. It was some type of greenish crystal jammed in his motor, the cause of his speed.

"This seems to be more of Sam's expertise," Snively said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell-phone. Rotor worked patiently while Snively discussed the matter at hand with Sam over the phone.

"She'll be over here in a few minutes. I hope you don't mind that's she's bringing our daughter with her," Snively said.

"Of course it's okay! I haven't really gotten to see her that much anyways," Rotor said.

"Hey guys! Whoa, what happened to Mecha?" Sam asked with Chibi on her hip.

"We're really not sure," Rotor replied, picking up the crystal and giving it to Sam.

"What is this from?" her husband inquired of her.

"I don't know. I've never seen one like that before. Snively, I need to talk to you later," Sam answered.

They heard beeping noises and Snively saw Sam's cell-phone in Chibi's hands. Clearly, she was a quick learner. He took the communicating device out of Chibi's hands. He placed it by his ear and heard a voice on the other line. He didn't understand what the other was saying and handed it to his wife. Sam listened, apologized to the other person, and hung up.

"I don't believe this. She called Tokyo of all places!" Sam said.

Sally came in after she had calmed down later. She saw the greenish colored crystal. "You know, that crystal kind of looks like it came from the Void," Sally commented thoughtfully.

"What's 'the Void?'" Sam asked.

The next five minutes were spent by informing Sam on what the Void was. The girls left soon after. Rotor and Snively continued working on Mecha-Sonic, unsure of what the turnout would be.

----

It was two days later, Christmas Eve, and time for lunch. Snively walked in his hut in a nervous matter.

"Sam? Are you here?" he called out.

"Our room!" was his reply. She came in with Chibi and placed her in a corner where a large playpen was set up.

"Uh, Sam, we have a guest. Mecha, if you will," Snively said.

The metallic hedgehog walked in, glaring at Sam. He had already settled his differences with Snively and Rotor. He went with the overlander, feeling he would be better off with him than the walrus.

"Do you...live together?" Mecha asked.

"You didn't tell him?"

"I was going to."

"Yeah, we live together because we're married," Sam answered.

Mecha was somewhat embarrassed, though he was a robot. He should have known that. "Who is that?" he asked, gesturing towards Chibi.

Snively went and picked the baby up and brought her to Mecha. "This is Serenity, but we call her Chibi. She's our daughter," Snively explained.

"If I would have known you had a visitor, I would've stopped by later," Melissa said, walking in.

"You got the book?" Sam asked her.

"Right here," Melissa answered, holding up the aforementioned item.

Sam took Chibi from her husband and sat down on the couch with the princess of Neptune.

"Watch this," Snively smirked. "Sam, we're leaving."

"'Kay, whatever," she replied distractedly, more interested in the book.

"Hey, want to take a nap with me?" he asked.

"'Kay, whatever."

"I made blueberry waffles."

"'Kay whatever."

Mecha-Sonic wasn't sure where this was going.

"Sam, Skillet's in Knothole."

"What? Seriously?" Sam was already half way out of the door.

"What's so important about a skillet?" Mecha asked.

"Skillet is this Christian rock band that she likes," Snively answered, referring to Sam.

"Whatever! Skillet ain't here!" Sam came storming in. "Man, that's the third time this week I fell for this!"

"Like I've said before, 'attention-span of a rock.'"

Before Sam could say anything vulgar, Melissa interjected, "Sam, I found why Chibi is maturing at a rapid speed."

"I'm going to show Mecha around Knothole and I think Sally would like to see us," Snively said.

"Don't forget about our date tonight!" Sam called, after they left.

----

After they were sure the girls were asleep, Snively and Sam brought the Christmas presents out and placed them under their Christmas tree. Snively pulled Sam to him and held her firmly.

"Our first Christmas together as a family," he whispered into her ear.

"What happened to Mecha?" Sam asked.

"He has to stay in a prison cell until the others know what to do with him."

They walked into their room, where Sam shut the door. Snively pulled her to him again and they engaged in an amorous liplock. Sam pulled them both backwards, landing on their bed. She pulled her head away and looked at the door.

"Someone's here. Get off," she said.

"Sam, it's fine. It's nothing to worry about," Snively replied, brushing stray strands of hair out of her face. He tilted her chin up and caressed her lips with his own, getting a small giggle out of her.

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice inquired.

Snively yanked his head up to see Mecha-Sonic standing in the doorway. Sam pushed her husband off of her.

"Aw man, busted!"

"Mecha, what brings you to our...bedroom at this hour?" Snively asked.

"I...well, I was just...wondering if I could...stay here," the robot muttered.

"Why?" Sam asked, getting up. Mecha didn't hear annoyance, anger, nor spite in her voice, but instead concern for him.

"I find it unpleasant deactivating in a strange place."

"Oh, okay. I guess you'll have to sleep on the couch." She left the room.

"If I interrupt-"

"It's alright. I could tell Sam wasn't in the mood to...makeout," Snively said sheepishly.

"Okay, Mecha, time for bed," Sam said.

Mecha followed her into the Main Room where a makeshift bed was made on the couch. He sat down on it, unsure of what to do next. He knew he was to lie down, but wasn't sure how. He had never done it before. He tried and found it relatively simple to do.

"'Night, Mecha," Sam said, flicking off the lights and leaving the room.

He pulled the blanket over himself, curious of how it would feel like if he wasn't metal. He was curious about how it would be to feel in general. He deactivated himself, still curious.

----

Snively was laying down when Sam came back. She shed her silky, black robe by the bed and revealed a maroon silk nightgown with thin shoulder straps and was just over her knees. It was backless and showed the upper half and part of the middle of her chest. She crawled into bed and had lain down, nestling into her husband. He put an arm around her and they slept.

----

The next morning, Mecha opened his...eyes? Eyes? He felt the warm cotton blanket over him. He sat up to see white gloves on his hands and his arms had tan fur. He heard someone coming in and hid under the blanket. He didn't think it was a good idea to be seen at the moment. Whoever it was ran back down the hall. Mecha let out a sigh of relief. But, he wanted to know why he was an organic hedgehog.

----

Sam and Snively were sound asleep in each other's arms, both contented.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Hope screamed, running in and jumping on the couple.

"Hope!" Snively yelled.

The only one who was still asleep was Sam and the siblings bickering didn't make her enjoy it.

"Dudes, shut up. I'm trying to sleep," Sam's tired voice interjected.

The siblings looked at her, shocked that she was still sleeping through the racket they were making.

"Sam, get up! It's Christmas," Hope said.

"That's yawn cool, Hope."

"I'll get Sam up. Get Chibi and Mecha up, please," Snively said.

Hope got off the bed and picked Chibi up out of her crib. As soon as Hope left the room, Snively flopped back down in bed and sighed. He knew there was no point in trying to sleep now that he was awake. He sat up and pushed Sam on her back. She is a heavy sleeper for sleeping through that fight, he thought.

"Sam, you might as well get up now. You know Hope won't wait long."

"Fine. I'm yawn up," she replied.

He gave her a kiss and got up and dressed. When he came back in the room, Sam was still asleep. He rolled his eyes and picked her up. He dropped her on the bed, startling her enough to wake her. She looked around and was trying to figure out what happened to cause her to wake up. She finally decided to ignore it and Snively handed Sam her robe, which she put on. She gave him a kiss and followed him into the Main Room. There, they saw a hunter green hedgehog on the couch. Sam had an

idea of who it was and went on with her business.

"Hi, Mecha," the brunette said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Give her a few minutes," Hope said to Mecha, "she's practically a zombie when she wakes up."

"I heard that!" they heard come from the kitchen.

Hope laughed. After awhile, Mecha smelled something sweet being cooked.

"All right, breakfast in five!" they heard Sam call.

Mecha felt an empty space in his stomach. "I feel strange," he said.

"You're probably hungry," Snively said.

"Oh." The former robot watched the baby crawl over to the Christmas tree. So, that's why they have the pen. To keep her out of things, Mecha summed up.

"Chibi, no. Let's get you ready to eat," Snively said, picking his daughter up off of the floor.

Mecha watched his former master take the child into another room. He stood and walked awkwardly into what appeared to be the kitchen. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Hope, get your butt in here!" Sam yelled.

The ten-year-old bounded into the room. The table was set with several different plates of food. There were peppermint pancakes, warmed syrup, fruit of many kinds, cinnamon rolls, and hot chocolate. Mecha watched the others, aside from Chibi who was playing with Cheerios, bow their

heads, close their eyes, and fold their hands. He did the same, remembering that it was a form of a religious ritual.

"Awesome God, thank You for this day. Please bless our food so that we may follow in Your son's name. In Your name I pray, Amen," Sam prayed aloud.

He opened his eyes to see the family passing the meal around. He took some of everything. He was amazed of how foods tasted different from other foods. He thought food was the best part to being organic. Mecha was finishing his third plate when Sam spoke.

"Mecha, don't eat yourself sick, bud. We're having Christmas dinner later."

"Who handled entertainment this year?" Snively inquired.

"Me and Mina decided we would," Sam replied. She looked at Chibi, who was covered in syrup and frosting, from the cinnamon rolls, and had pieces of pancake on her face, hands, and in her hair.

"What about presents?" Hope asked.

"After you're dressed, the kitchen's cleaned up, and Chibi's had another bath," Hope's older brother said.

Sam picked the baby up out of her high chair and carried her into the bathroom while the others finished eating.

"Are you two finished?" Snively asked.

They nodded and he started to clear the table. Hope ran off to where Mecha assumed her bedroom was.

"What do I do?" the hedgehog asked.

"After Chibi's finished taking a bath, you might as well take a shower," Snively said.

"Okay, the munchkin's clean! Give her anything messy, I'll personally kill you," Sam said, walking in with a clean Chibi in her arms.

Mecha walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Snively, we're going to have to add on to make room for everyone," Sam indicated.

"I've already realized that. Mecha needs to stay here, until we figure out something for him," Snively replied.

"Okay, we can open presents now!" Hope said.

"You can wait a few more minutes," Snively replied.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Hope."

"Fine," the younger Kintobor whined, storming into the Main Room.

----

They opened Christmas presents after Hope explained how Christmas came to be. Mecha-Sonic listened with interest since he had never heard it before.

"Okay, Hope. Go nuts," Sam said, with a smile.

Hope squealed and she and Chibi practically dove into the stack of presents. Snively noticed Mecha's withdrawn attitude towards the family.

"Hey Mecha, there's presents here for you too!" Hope said.

"What?" The hedgehog walked up to her and she handed him a gift. "Uh, thank you."

The wrapping paper was a cheerful red color with green pine trees decorated with blue and yellow trimming. He slowly tore through the paper. He saw a black scarf and looked at the couple. Both

nodded in approvement. He sat down by the kids and looked for more gifts with his name literally on them. Sam took several pictures with camera. After they were finished, Sam directed the three to

put their things up.

"Where do I put my things?" Mecha inquired of Snively.

Sam was putting Chibi's presents away with the baby crawling after. "I suppose leave them by the tree," the overlander replied. The rest of the morning and early afternoon went uneventful.

----

"Hope, who's that green hedgehog hanging around your place," Amy Rose asked, fastening her coat. They were walking over to Sonic and Tails' hut to get Tails.

"C'mon, Tails. Sam made sugar cookies again!" Hope said.

"Really?" the two-tailed fox asked, coming outside.

"Yeah," Amy said.

Hope saw Sam, her brother, and Mecha, who was carrying a sleeping Chibi.

"Hope, are you going to answer my question?" Amy asked.

"What? Oh, yeah. That's Mecha," Hope replied.

"Mecha?! As in, Mecha-Sonic, the robot-demon-hedgehog?" Tails inquired.

"Well, he's been really nice to me," Hope commented.

"Where're they going?" Tails asked, referring to Hope's family.

"Probably to see if Mecha can stay in Knothole," Hope said. The three walked off to Hope's current home.

----

"Mecha-Sonic, it has been brought to my attention that since becoming a...real hedgehog, you wished to join the Knothole Freedom Fighters. However, there are few who trust you. You will be trialed

for a period of two weeks," Sally said.

Hope was in fact correct. The meeting that the family was at, aside from Hope, was to determine Mecha-Sonic's fate.

"Where do I stay until then?" Mecha inquired.

"If they are willing, perhaps Snively and Sam will allow you to stay with them," Sally replied. All who were attending the meeting looked at the aforementioned couple.

"I think we've drawn too much attention to ourselves in the past year," Snively said.

Mecha couldn't believe it. His former master was going to abandon him!

"But, I think of Mecha as my sibling," he heard his former master say.

"Or, do you mean 'son?'" Sam said.

"Sam, don't you have anything better to do than annoying me?" Snively asked his wife.

She seemed to think for a moment before answering, "No."

He sighed before continuing. "As I was saying, I believe Sam and I would like for Mecha to stay with us as long as he needs to."

The green hedgehog looked at the two. "You mean it?"

"We'll have to add on to our hut later on, but yeah," Sam said.

"Thank you, mistress," Mecha told Sam.

"Yeah, that's definitely going to stop now," she replied, getting up. "I'm going to Mina's for a few. We're going over a few things before the party later," she continued before walking out.

----

Later on at the Christmas Party, Mecha looked around the room for his guardians. He saw them with some of the Freedom Fighters and a couple more of their type of species. He warily walked up to them, ready for anything.

"He's a real dude now!" Erika said, looking at Mecha, who gave her a dirty look. "Sam, whadja do this time?" the Mercury pop star inquired.

"Why does everyone automatically assume I do something when most of the time I do nothin'," Sam replied.

"Well, what about that one time when you snuck into that one place to get that one thing?" Alex pointed.

"Oh yeah, I remember that! The thing led us to the place by that one place that sells that one brand," Erika said.

"Well, yeah, but that place sells those one things from that one place from across town," Sam agreed.

"Do you understand a word they're saying?" asked Snively.

"Not a clue," Sonic replied.

Hope walked up and overheard the former Senshi and said, "Sam took me to that one place by that other place across the street."

"The place that sells those one things?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, with those one things for them."

"OH, I love those!" Erika exclaimed.

"Enough," Snively cut in and guided Sam away. He continued guiding her gently by the hand until they reached the middle of the dance floor.

"Um, Snively, what are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Hoping you would dance with me," he replied. She nodded and flashed a smile. They danced for awhile, her head resting on one of his shoulders contentedly while he whispered flattering things in her ear.

Later on, Sally announced that it was time to exchange gifts. The couple brought Mecha, Hope, and Chibi over to a fairly large box.

"What is it?" Hope asked. Mecha tore a small piece of the paper off. Hope and Chibi joined in until revealed to be box. "Alright, a TV!" Hope screamed.

Sam whispered something in her husband's ear, his eyes widening very slightly.

"Then what you're promising me will go amazingly well with what I have for you," he replied smugly.

"Oh, and what might that be?" she inquired.

He pulled out a manila envelope and handed it to her. She opened it slowly, carefully, basking in total and complete excitement. The whole party was silenced by a shrill scream.

"YOU GOT ME A RECORDING CONTRACT!" Sam cried out in a shrill voice. Snively expected everything that she had did except being tackled and given an unexpected kiss and hug.

"Uh, you're welcome?" Snively answered.

"Do you guys mind?" Sonic queried rudely.

"Yes, we're done," Snively said, just as annoyed.

"Sally, I have the best thing for you," Sonic said. King Acorn stepped out of the shadows and stood next to the blue hedgehog. Sally was speechless.

"Daddy?"

"Give your father a hug, Bean," the Acorn king said.

The rest of the evening was spent celebrating the return of the king. Any questions were agreed to be answered the next day.

----

The next morning, Snively had to literally drag Sam out of bed.

"Yeah, but Snively, it's 8:30! It's too early to get up," Sam complained.

"We have a meeting with the king in half an hour."

"Then why can't I stay home?"

"Because you simply cannot miss this meeting," he replied. He personally had been up since 6:15 that morning. The only thing he hadn't done was eat breakfast. Sam was the one that usually cooked

and he did pretty much everything else, due to his wife's lack of knowledge of housework.

"Sam, do you want me to get you up or Hope," Snively inquired. She remained silent for a moment before finally getting up. She skulked into the bathroom and shut the door. He shook his head, smiling. She can be so immature at times, he thought.

----

The meeting turned out to be three hours long. The first two hours were used to fill King Acorn on what had happened since the last time the Freedom Fighters had seen him. The rest was a briefing for their next mission.

"Sam, is there any way that you could get any of the Senshi to come?" Sally asked.

"I don't know; everyone's busy ever since Armageddon happened," she replied.

"Sam, Alex and I can do it," Erika said, walking in.

"Great," Sally said, "we leave at dusk."

----

The Freedom Fighters crept quietly towards Robotnik's oil rigs in the harbor. As they were crossing the small, somewhat slippery bridge, Sam lost her footing and fell into the murky water below.

"Sam!" the Senshi sisters cried out.

"What?" Snively asked. He was beginning to worry because Sam hadn't come up yet.

"She can't swim!" Alex exclaimed.

Snively dove into the cold water without hesitating. He swam around for a few seconds trying to get his bearings. He felt for his wife and found her arm and pulled her to him. He swam up as fast as he possibly could and broke the water's surface. He swam to the shore and felt for Sam's pulse.

Snively found it, but it was growing faint. He was giving her CPR when the others showed up. Sam gasped and started coughing up water. Snively helped her roll over to her knees and helped her out in any way he possibly could to rid her of the water in her lungs.

"Ugnh, that water tastes like crap," Sam said. She felt herself being pulled towards someone, Snively. She returned the hug.

"Don't you dare ever do something like that again," Snively said.

"Trust me, I won't," Sam replied.

They went back onto the oil rig, Snively holding Sam by the waist, making sure she wouldn't fall in the water again. The Freedom Fighters split up, setting several small bombs in various areas of the

rig. They met few, close to none, Swatbots.

"You would think Robotnik would have his best security out here," Sally said, after rejoining with everyone else.

"His best security is in Knothole," Erika said, looking at Snively and Sam.

"What?" they asked.

"Nothing," she replied.

As they were heading back to the Great Forest, someone set off an alarm. Following the alarm were hundreds upon hundreds of Swatbots, who were pouring out from behind buildings and from out of the shadows. The Freedom Fighters fought as long as they could before having to surrender. The Swatbots brought them to Central Command's Control Room. They saw Robotnik standing near the controls, looking nervous, no, fearful of something, or someone.

They saw two black boots, a purple suit, two gray gloves, one glove covering a lobster-like claw, a beard, a smile with bat-like teeth, two beady black eyes, and a horn protruding from the forehead. Ixis Naugus was back from the Void. Sam carefully pulled her sword out.

"Quickster, I thank you for releasing me. Now, I am able to do what I had planned. Slave," Naugus said.

Then, the most unsuspecting thing happened.

"Yes, master?" Robotnik spoke.

Sam felt something in her stomach; like something was terribly wrong.

Sonic attacked the Swatbots that held him. Naugus clicked his claw and Sonic fell to the floor, holding his stomach. The others broke free and Sam went immediately for Naugus. He grabbed her by the throat with his claw, closing in. She pulled her sword out, swinging it upwards, slicing Robotnik's roboticized arm off smoothly. Robotnik howled causing Naugus to let go of Sam so he could cover his ears. The Freedom Fighters were about his laser pistol.

From there, everything seemed to fall into place in slow motion. Dr. Robotnik fired the pistol at Sam and Snively pushed her out of the way, getting hit, and falling to the ground, clutching a chest wound. Sam was about to attack Robotnik again before Erika and Alex pulled her back. Geoffrey St. John picked Snively up and carried him to Knothole...

----

Knothole's citizens' nightly routines were ceased when they saw everyone returning from the mission, Geoffrey carrying Snively directly to the Medical Ward. They also noticed everyone else holding a very distraught, a very ticked Sam from going anywhere. They took her to Sally's hut, keeping her locked up.

----

(Sam's P.O.V.)

I failed. I blew it, and now another's going to possibly die because of me. They all keep telling me to calm down. Why? Why should I? My husband, my lover, best friend, partner, and so much more is going to die. They know it, I know it, why deny it? He was hit in the heart by his uncle's gun. I don't understand. Why did he kill his nephew? Why, why, why? Am I selfish for wanting Snively to live? And I can't help him. After Armageddon, I am useless to help. I lost my magic. I don't

understand! If I hadn't've went and triggered that darn alarm, none of this would've happened. Why? Why is this happening? Why?

----

(3rd person view again)

A nurse walked into Sally's hut. "Princess, Dr. Quack wishes to see Sam," she said before hurrying out.

Sally undid Sam's binds and Sam tore from Sally's hut and into the Medical Ward. A nurse directed her to where Snively was. Sam watched the younger three residents of her home walking out of the room; Chibi was the only one not crying, for she did not understand what was going on. The nurse led them over to someone and guided Sam into the room. She could feel death hanging everywhere in the room. She walked up to the bed and he turned his head and smiled.

"Hey," she said shyly.

"From what I've heard, you're in worse shape than me," he said in a whispery voice. He reached his arm out and wrapped it around her. She was in tears and Snively held her close, stroking her hair, trying to calm Sam down. He kissed her cheek and she kissed his forehead. Snively kissed her lips and she tried to hold it out, but her heart wasn't in it. "Sam?"

"Yeah, Snively?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." Sam watched him smile one last time before feeling him go limp. Sam cried, pleading silently for him to come back.

But, Snively Kintobor was dead.

The End?

Q.N.

Okay, how many cried? I don't own anything except Sam and Chibi. Water Star and I share ownership of Erika and she has complete ownership of Alex. Is this the end? Wait and see...

'One More Round' is by BarlowGirl, if you are wanting to listen to it. 


End file.
